SEAT Ibiza Bocanegra
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- Written by Rory White
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IT'S FRIDAY, IT'S lunchtime, and standing together with one hundred other frowning suits glaring at the Marks and Spencer sandwich shelf, you decide that life needs spicing up. Time for something different you think. But jalapeño and raspberry jelly fajita in the bin, you’re back at the desk and opening Outlook Express for another crushing wade through the day’s electronic demands.
However, one digital chime and a bold Times New Roman header changes your weekend. That thing you sold to that company earns you that commission, or to use another 'c word', that car deposit.
• From £18,280 (Cupra £17,555)
• 180bhp 1.4-litre supercharged, turbocharged petrol
• 184lb ft torque
• 7-speed DSG gearbox
• Claimed MPG: 44.1mpg
• Our MPG: 27mpg
• 0-60mph: 7.2 secs
• Top Speed: 140mph
• Weight: 1259kg
Suddenly you have a problem, other than which end a jalapeño and raspberry fajita is best forced from. You need to decide which hot hatch that fresh wad is going to reserve, and luckily, we can tell you. Life just got spicy.
For more pictures, click here!
The 1.4 supercharged, turbocharged petrol engine slotted into the VW Polo GTI, Skoda Fabia VRS and this SEAT Ibiza Bocanegra is an impressive piece of engineering. Mated to the 7-speed DSG gearbox, it gives you the option of fully automatic transmission for individually-pull-your-teeth-out town driving, or hold-on-to-your-Burberry-cap paddle-shifts for 180hp country lane blasts. You can drive like your mother and achieve 40mpg, or drive like you younger-brother and still get 20mpg. In many ways it is the perfect engine for the modern driving enthusiast.
But the real question is, can it match the Reanult Clio Renaultsport’s 2.0-litre turbocharged, 200hp unit we tested recently. If in SEAT Ibiza Bocanegra form it does just that, it will be the new benchmark hot hatch motor.
Well for a kick-off, to our eyes the Ibiza looks better than the Clio. In fact, in candy white paint with 17” Sira alloy wheels, we’d go as far as to say the SEAT looks better than the VW Polo GTI and Skoda Fabia VRS, too.
And that’s a good thing. Because if you’re in the market for a hot hatch, you’re effectively like the same fifteen-year-old boy you were standing in JJB at the start of the Sunday-league football season. The top of the football-boot shelf had for years been out of reach, but hard work, a paper round and pocket-money savings finally brought it within reach. In the same way, the top of the model range is now a viable choice, and you want to make sure your hard-earned cash is spent wisely.
Slipping inside and getting comfy in the deep Bocanegra seats, it’s here that you decide whether or not a £700 premium over the Ibiza Cupra is worth shelling out for. Unfortunately, we can’t see why you would. The Cupra offers the same engine, the same kerbweight and the same MPG, but does without the Bocanegra’s swathes of fake carbon fibre detailing, thin, shiny plastic dashboard highlights and red accents.
Importantly, the Cupra also gives you the same noise – another area where the SEAT trumps the competition. The little 1.4 loves to be revved, from the initial whine of the supercharger, to the whoosh of the turbocharger. The Skoda Fabia VRS was just as keen, but can’t claim to be as throaty as the Ibiza past 4000rpm. The wheels stay the same size on the Cupra, too, meaning grip in the corners will be just as impressive as the Bocanegra proved to be whilst buzzing about deepest Surrey. We also found the ride to be better than the Clio’s cup springs and comparable to the Fabia VRS, but this wasn’t surprising.
The final decider, though, is price. You could argue that buying a car for its performance figures automatically puts price second in a list of considerations. But the hot hatch is by its very nature, the realistic, practical choice. In essence, you can afford to own it, but still have a cheeky grin on your face at the lights.
The VW Polo GTI is £19,415 and that's frankly ridiculous for the amount of metal you end up with, so you'd have to really want the badge to fork out for one. The Fabia undercuts that by over £3000 and offers the Ibiza’s performance, if not the Ibiza’s styling for a fantastic final price tag. Yet the real dilemma, now you’ve decided a Cupra is the model to go for, is that the Renault Clio, with its 20 extra horses, faster 0-60 time, ‘Cup’ race-tuned chassis and 19KG diet is £600 cheaper.
So, head in hands and tears of anger falling on the Clio and Ibiza brochures on the coffee table below, which do you finally put your money on? And the answer, we think, is this. Both will make you smile, but if you value looking the part as much as a flying start, then the SEAT is for you. But if you want raw, no-frills race-tuned performance, choose the Renault.
